Going 2-1 and stunning then-undefeated Green Bay as Kansas City's interim head coach meant a lot more than gratification for Romeo Crennel. It also persuaded the Chiefs to give the affable defensive specialist a second chance to be an NFL head coach.

In a quarterback-driven league, elite outside linebackers are the pass-rushing demons who thrive on driving those men under center into the ground. Think of them as chaos-causing, counter-punching spread defenders with the versatility to drop into coverage or stop the run when they're not harassing, hurrying and pummeling signal callers in an increasingly pass-heavy, wide-open game.

The All-Joe team was born in 1992 as a tribute to Joe Phillips, a 14-year defensive lineman who did yeoman's work for the Chiefs that season. His work in the trenches didn't lead to much glory unless you point to the 29 combined sacks of Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith, Kansas City's fifth-ranked defense or the team's wild-card run. USA TODAY has honored the unsung Joes of the NFL ever since.

The oldest player on the Minnesota Vikings this season not named Brett Favre was sitting in the locker room recently when he started assessing the team's future. "They'll need to rebuild around here," defensive tackle Pat Williams said. "It's going to be kind of rough."

Tuesday is usually a day off for NFL players, but the Philadelphia Eagles host the Minnesota Vikings Tuesday night in a nationally televised (NBC, 8 ET) game that was switched from Sunday night due to an impending blizzard.

In the weeks and months since finally ridding themselves somewhat, anyway of that bitter aftertaste born of an overtime loss to the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship Game, the Minnesota Vikings have gone about their business with those time-honored perfunctory steps during offseason workouts and minicamps.